The proposed work seeks to analyze through unit electrophysiology processing of taste information in the amygdala and substantia innominata of the awake behaving rabbit. We have developed a technique for studying taste electrophysiology that satisfies many of the conditions used with acute-type preparations but that provides a way of studying taste-processing in a more natural neurobehavioral context in which taste input leads to ingestive reactions as indexed electromyographically. Our technique premits intraoral injections of specified volume of the four putative basic types of taste stimuli (sucrose, acid, saline, and quinine) by means of fine hypodermic tubes linked to separate pump systems. Both sucrose and saline are highly palatable to the food-deprived rabbit while acid and quinine are unpalatable. We propose to analyze the ways in which cells in the pontine taste area, which projects to ventral forebrain as well as thalamus, and amygdala-substantia innominata a) process information about the 4 basic types of taste stimuli, and b) subserve various conditional modes of reaction that occur when delivery of tastants is signalled by conditional types of sensory stimuli. These findings will provide information on the elaboration of taste input into alimentary and hedonic modes of reaction. This work will be complemented by neuroanatomical and electrophysiological analysis of pontine-forebrain interrelationships to clarify questions of structure and function.